A Dragon's Guilt
by Sakura Kreuz
Summary: "Lucy! Don't leave me!" Natsu yelled."She is doing it for your sake, she is sacrificing herself and her own happiness for your sake !" The celestial mage heard all the yells for her to stop, but didn't stop yet bowed her head and walked quickly out of the guild. What would happen if the dragons returned, but they were truly the beasts that killed Layla, my first fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my first fanfiction, so I might have made some mistakes in the layout/edit and so on, so please let me know if you find any mistakes. In addition I am not a native English speaker, and am just a teenager, so my English probably contains a lot of mistakes, so if you spot some, please report them, no matter how small or insignificant it may look. And my finals are just coming up now, so I might not be able to update the next chapter, before a little while. For that I am begging for your forgiveness. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, it is owned by Hiro Mashima-sama, which is probably a great thing._

**Chapter 1**

It was just a regular day in Fairy Tail, meaning that Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragon slayer, and Grey Fullbuster, the ice mage was fighting, again, while the rest of the guild was spread out in the room. Gajeel Redfox was leaning up against a wall while eating some screws and nails, while he was discussing which mission he should do next with Panther Lily, his black exeed. Levy Mcgarden on the other hand was admiring the iron dragon slayer, much in annoyance to Lucy Heartifilia, as those two were supposed to discuss a really interesting book they had both read. Since Levy seemed to be occupied by admiring Gajeel, Lucy moved over to the bar, where Lisanna and Cana were sitting and chatting with Mirajane. Lucy had just herself down on the chair by the bar, when a yell sounded through the guild. "Oi, Lucy you wanna do a mission with me and Happy today!", Lucy turned around, and as she had expected, behind her stood a pink haired, fire dragon slayer with a huge grin plastered on his face. "Weren't you and Grey just fighting?", Lucy asked in order to avoid answering the dragon slayer's question, but of course the world was always against her. "Yeah, but I already won over Grey. Like who would really have a problem with beating up that ice princess?" Natsu asked while pointing over to where Grey lay, in a little crater with Juvia beside him. "You want a beating flame brain!"Grey yelled, momentarily forgetting his pain. "There is no point in beating up a weakling anymore, and I don't like to bully the weak either. In addition I and Lucy are going to do a mission now, right?" Lucy who was still frozen in shock over hearing Natsu decline a fight with Grey, couldn't muster up any logical excuse to drop the mission, and was therefore pulled along with him, after Natsu gave the details about the mission to Mira, who seemed to be in heaven. Since Natsu had asked Lucy to do a mission with just the two of them, and Happy was going to stay over with Charle and Wendy.

A few days later, the guild doors were smashed up and a pink haired dragon slayer walked in, with the blonde celestial mage walking in his wake. "Lucy, you have a visitor", Mira called, as she made her way over to the bar. As Lucy came closer to the bar, she saw that indeed there was a stranger in Fairy Tail today. The person was cloaked in a grey cloak and had the hood pulled over his face. "Hi I am Lucy", the celestial mage told the stranger. "Yeah, I know", a male voice said. "Um, did you want something?" Lucy asked unsure. "I did not exactly want something, it is rather that I have to do something." the stranger said. "Um, okay?" Lucy said, still unsure about why the stranger had seeked her out. The stranger sighed, and asked: "Do you still not remember me, Lucy?". "Perhaps I would, if you removed your cloak."Lucy said as her patience was running low .The man chuckled, "You still have your sarcasm intact, I see." Since Lucy wasn't making any other replies, he just got up and took of his cloak, which he let slide down to the floor, before he met Lucy's brown eyes.

"Do you remember me now, Lucy?" he asked. A confused look floated over Lucy's eyes, before it got replaced with a look of shock. "Kuro! Is that you?". The stranger's black eyes, lit up with happiness, before they dimmed down again, as his face became guarded. "Yes, it is me, Kuro, though today I am better known as Senshi Hakushaku (Hakushaku=Earl in Japanese)", he said with a sad smile. "You said that you had something to do here, right?", Lucy asked in order to change the subject from the gloom connected to the old Senshi-san's death. "Yeah, I came here to give you this", Kuro said, as he pulled up an unmarked wine bottle from inside his black cloak. "Oh, no thanks Kuro". "Why don't you want it? The shop owner said it was an excellent wine." "I just don't want it !" Lucy said as she turned to leave him alone at the bar. "Come on, please just a little sip. I paid really much for it, and bought it especially for you." he begged. "No thanks, Kuro" "But Lucy, please." Kuro continued to beg, while Lucy continued to ignore him. But after a quarter of his continually begging, she snapped. "I don't want that stupid wine of yours. Deal with it !", leaving a shocked Kuro. "I am sorry, if I sounded annoying, but if you don't want it at least give me a reason." "Lucy doesn't drink." a male voice said before Lucy could tell Kuro to leave the topic alone. Kuro turned around to look at the guy who had explained why Lucy didn't want to drink the wine, only to stare into a pair of onyx eyes in a slightly tanned face topped with pink hair. "That is bullshit, of course Lucy drinks, right?" he began to tell Natsu, before he turned to Lucy to confirm it. "Not anymore", Lucy whispered while looking at the floor, so her bangs covered her eyes. "Huh", the two males said brilliantly. "Just leave it alone. Did you want anything else, Kuro?" Lucy asked as the strength returned to her voice. "Wait, are you serious? Did you really stop to drink? Why?" "You better just leave it alone, Kuro" Lucy threatened. "Of course, but it is just that I bought this as part of a promise from back then. And it kind of breaks the whole point of that promise if you stopped to drink." "Oi, just leave it, Lucy said she didn't want to drink, right?! So stop trying to pressure her into drinking!" Grey yelled from the table, he and Erza were sitting at. However Lucy lifted her hand up in a gesture to stop in the direction of Grey, as she turned her attention back to Kuro. "You bought this, because of that promise we made back when we were kids?" she asked shocked. "Of course, or well I would have bought you a wine anyway, but then I wouldn't have pressured you to drink it as much as I am doing now." Kuro said. "But we made that promise when we were five years old or something, how did you remember it? It has been about 20 years since". (This story is set a year after Fairy Tail returned from the Tenrou Island, and Lucy is 17 years now).

"So what, be it 20 years or be it 200 years, I would never forget anything you told me, and especially not a promise I made to you, no matter what. I am just really sorry that I couldn't fulfill the promise earlier, as it already been a year since you guys returned from that island." "That is what you are worried about?!" Cana asked Kuro from one of the tables, were she were sitting with a barrel situated in front of her. "Uh, yes, what else?" "How the hell are your mind working. It has been 20 years, damnit! How the hell can you still remember a promise about bringing her a bottle of wine?!" "Huh, that was not the promise. It was about -" suddenly Lucy's hand clamped over Kuro's mouth making him stop talking. "It was about what you said exactly, Cana" Lucy hurriedly said, before taking her hand away from Kuro's mouth, and giving him a don't-you-dare-to-tell-her-about-it - look. "Well you heard her, that was our promise indeed, I was just mixing up a few things." Kuro said apologetically to Cana. "So do you want the wine?" Kuro asked Lucy as he turned his attention back to her. "Um-" Just as Lucy was going to answer his question another voice interrupted her. "Of course, she doesn't want your wine, you bastard!"

Lucy, Kuro and the rest of the guild turned their faces towards the door, where a two cloaked figures were standing. One of the cloaked figures rushed towards Lucy and Kuro, while the other on slowly walked over to Lucy and Kuro. "Of course she doesn't want your wine, right Gorgeous?" the cloaked man asked Lucy, while taking her hands in his own smooth one, making Lucy sigh. "Let me guess, you are Ichiro, and that is Yuki-chan making her way towards us, right?" "Yes! You must really care about us, if you get our names correct on the first try!" the man said as he took of the hood on his cloak, before he smirked in the direction of Kuro. "The only reason why she got you correct on the first try, was because you are the only one who would act as such a big playboy as you!" Kuro yelled in the blonde guys face, making his blue eyes turn into a frown. The third person had by this reached the bar, and was taking of her hood, revealing a brown haired girl with blue eyes and soft, slightly tanned skin. "I am sorry Lu-chan, I really tried my best to stop Ichiro-nii-san, but-" "I know Yuki-chan, I don't blame you at all for this mess. I was the one who brought this mess, so I should fix it". By hearing these words the two boys immediately turned their attention back to Lucy. "Lucy before you settle things, shouldn't you introduce your friends to us?" Mira asked. "Friends! what the hell are you talking about? She is going to be my finance!/She is my finance!" the two boys yelled at the same time, making them glare at each other.

The rest of the guild was by this time completely shocked. "What the hell!"Cana yelled, making the frozen guild members come back to their senses. "What these two bakas don't have enough brain capacity to say, is that, the guy over there is Kuro Senshi, and the blonde guy over here is Ichiro Kami, my older brother, and I am Yuki Kami. We are all Lucy's old childhood friends, and have known eachother since we were born almost. In addition I and Ichiro-nii-san are Lucy's cousin, cause our father was Layla-sama's younger brother. Which technically cancels Ichiro's plan of making her his finance." Yuki told Mira. "So that means that Kuro-san is Lucy's finance, right?"Mira asked. "There is no way in hell Lucy would marry such an idiot. She was even given a chance of marrying him, but obviously the single thought of marrying such a fool, gave her such a fright that she ran away from her home, and stayed away for years." Ichiro said matter of factly. "Wait a moment now! You mean Lucy ran away from her home, because she had to marry that guy?!" Levy asked shocked. "Yes" Ichiro stated proudly. "What the hell is wrong with you, girl !"Cana yelled in Lucy's direction. "What the heck was going on in your mind when you ran away from a marriage with such an handsome guy. Slightly tanned, muscular, black and soft hair, smoldering black eyes which pierces your soul, what more do you seek in a man, Lucy?! By the look you had when you told about the marriage you were supposed to attend, I got the impression that the groom was some old, perverted guy. The exact opposite of Kuro here! What the hell!" Cana yelled to Lucy, while the female guild members made sure Lucy heard that they all agreed with Cana. "What the hell does that douchebag have that I don't have?!" an angered Ichiro asked no one in particular. "Nothing, you look pretty handsome too, it is just that we are mad that Lucy obviously are really dense, and we have now confirmed that her denseness were something she has had for a long time, at least since she met you two male gods" Mira said as she eyed the two males, which made Elfman's eyes water, as his poor nee-san was seduced by these two strangers. "Then why won't we let Lucy decide who is the better guy?", Levy asked cunningly, which made Gajeel smirk. "Good idea!"Kuro said, "Ok, then what about fulfilling the original promise?"Ichiro said as he put another wine bottle beside Kuro's unmarked wine bottle.

"Um...I don't think that is such a good idea." Yuki said eyeing the two bottles. "Why not?" Ichiro asked curiously. "I will keep the promise, if you promise to not being sad or feeling guilty because of it." Lucy said slowly. "Of course not!" the two males yelled as they walked at least 15 metres from the bar and each other. So they formed a triangle, with Lucy in one peak, and the two males in each a corner. "Lu-chan I still don't think this is such a good idea. What if-" "Stop being such a worrywart Yuki"Kuro yelled over to her, as she was still standing beside Lucy at the bar. "Mira can you give me a really big mug?"Lucy asked while her eyes were covered by her bangs. "Sure" Mira said as she handed Lucy a mug which could contain at least half a litre of liquid. Lucy put the mug on the bar table before opening the two wine bottles (these are small bottles, containing about 0.25l wine each). After sniffing at them she made up her decision and took one bottle in each hand, before pouring it all into the mug, making both the kinds of wine mix with each other. "Oi, Lucy you sure about this?" a worried Natsu asked. "Sure, what could go wrong?" Lucy asked as she stared at the mug. "A lot of things." Yuki whispered to herself, knowing that once Lucy makes up her decision it would be completely impossible to make her change her opinion about it. However Natsu heard it, thanks to his dragon slayer magic. So Yuki and Natsu was just watching as they saw Lucy make one of the greatest mistakes in her life.

_In chapter 3 or 4 I will need a punishment for Natsu, Gray, Kuro and Ichiro, so if any of you have any ideas, let me know through the reviews. Thanks for reading the first chapter._


	2. Chapter 2

Yuki and Natsu were just looking as Lucy slowly curled her hand around the handle of the mug, and lifted it up in front of her face, studying the liquid. Then in one fast motion she pulled the mug to her mouth and drowned the entire half litre of alcohol in one go, as if to not let go of resolve. Then she quickly jumped down from the bar stool and down on the ground, which made the entire guild to slide to a 45 degrees angle, and Lucy to almost facepalm with the floor. However she managed to regain her balance right before she tumbled down to the floor, only to see that almost the entire guild's eyes were on her, in addition the her three childhood friends. "What?" she asked offended. "Nothing" they quickly answered, in order to watch more of the drunk Lucy's folly. In Lucy's drunk head their answer made absolute sense, so she decided to move on to the task at hand, to choose who she liked the most out of Ichiro and Kuro.

She turned her head towards the door, where Ichiro and Kuro were standing in each their corner, before she slowly began to make her way over to them, since her head was still trying to pull her to a side, to get her to crash into the floor. However, even though she looked pretty drunk, the few steps she had taken had been in a pretty straight line, right in the middle of the two boys. Just as she took another step a pained expression crossed her face, which only Natsu caught, as he had been staring at her, and he read her expressions better than anybody else. However Lucy didn't seem to mind and took a few more steps, while that pained expression just came more and more frequently, even though it didn't last for more than a few heartbeats. Then suddenly she gripped her head in pain and groaned, before almost collapsing to her knees. Well it was almost, cause Natsu caught her before her knees would bend and drop her body to the floor. As Natsu caught her, her eyes shut tight and she lost consciousness. This made everybody except for Cana to rush over to Lucy's side, where Natsu were cradling her body, while everybody were worrying about her. "What are all of you guys worrying about? Of course she would faint, what did you expect? That she would miraculously be able to hold down half a litre of really strong alcohol, when she hasn't even had a small glass of cider? Just let her sleep it off, she would be fine in the morning, well except for a killer hangover, but that is not really that a big deal. " Cana slurred. However, what Cana said seemed to make sense, so Natsu carried Lucy's limp body over to the infirmary, and let her sleep it off on one of the beds.

Everybody except for Lucy who was sleeping in the infirmary, was present in the main hall of the guild where they were peppering Lucy's childhood friends with question, in order to get their attention away from Lucy, as they all seemed to blame themselves for what happened. However, no matter what they had asked or done, the trio's eyes still remained as the eyes of a kid caught red-handed with the cookie jar, and who was waiting for punishment. "What happened back then?" a female voice groaned.

"Lucy! You shouldn't be up and walking around. You should stay in bed and rest." A worried Natsu exclaimed. "Yeah, sure, I am gonna rest when I come home." The blonde mage answered. "By the way, where are you three gonna stay?" Master Makarov asked from his seat on the bar. "Um, well, um, about that..."Ichiro began. "Let me guess, you two began to fight again and were thrown out?" Yuki asked. "What! Of course not! We were simply discussing a simple matter! By the way it was not my fault at all!" Kuro stated which began another quarrel between the two boys. "Then why won't you stay in Fairy Hill, the girls' dormitory for the rest of your stay, Yuki-chan?" Mira asked. "Um, I don't know, I wanted to stay with Lu-chan," she admitted. "Why can't you stay with Lucy if you are staying in the dorm?" Ichiro asked. "Cause I am living in my own apartment, since the monthly fee for the dorm, was way too expensive for me." Lucy said. "Well it doesn't matter; I will pay for both of your stay there in exchange for the headache we must have given you in stead." Ichiro said. "Don't be ridiculous Ichiro; I will pay for their stay." Kuro said. "What! Why should you pay? Yuki is my sister, and it is an older brother's duty to pay for their sister's enjoyment! In addition it is a friend's claim to pay for another friend's enjoyment!" Ichiro stated. "Huh, really. Well it is a man's duty to pay for his finance's enjoyment!" When Elfman heard this he began to support Kuro. "And it is only honorable for a man to pay for their friend's enjoyment!" Kuro finished as he looked at Yuki, who really looked ready to pass out, due to ridiculousness of her friends. "Um, before you start to argue about who is gonna pay for our stay there, shouldn't you ask how much it costs?" Lucy asked in order to stop their quarrel. "Sure, so how much is it for a month?" "10000 Jewels per person" "What! I can't afford to pay for a year's stay with that price!" the two boys yelled, before they glared at each other. "A year's stay?!" Lucy asked shocked. "No, what they mean is that we can stay here until we are needed again. We might be called upon tomorrow, or in a week. But no matter what, we can't stay here for more than a year, that is what otou-sama (otou-sama=honorable way to say dad) said." Yuki explained. "No matter what Lucy can't stay in the girls' dorm." Natsu said. "Sadly I have to agree with flamebrain here." Grey said, which made Natsu glare at him. "Why not?" Levy asked, right before the flame and ice mage could begin their much wanted fight.

"Levy you are supposed to be smart, you should be able to figure out why Lucy can't let apartment stay unattended." Natsu said, not noticing the dark aura that was materializing around Levy's head after Natsu's; "you are supposed to be smart"-comment. "What the ash head here, is talking about is that if Lucy leaves her apartment, we won't have a place to raid after each mission, nor will we be able to sneak in through her window and eat the food she is cooking." Grey stated. "And not be able to steal Lucy's fish from her deep freezer." Happy stated. "And sleep in her bed" Natsu said. All through this Kuro and Ichiro's faces had grown more and more rigid, and with Natsu's comment both of them, as well as the guild snapped. "What!"

"It is not -" Lucy began, just to be interrupted by Mira, who was in ecstasy saying: "I knew this would happen sooner or later, you guys were just meant to be!". Gajeel on the other hand looked really disappointed that the Salamander had slept with a girl before he had done it. Money were exchanging hands and people were congratulating Lucy and Natsu, until Ichiro snapped. He drew his sword and laid the tip of the sword at Natsu's adam's apple. "How dare you! How dare you deprive Lucy of her chance to have a white wedding!", he yelled. (I am not sure if this is what it is called, but what I meant with "white wedding", is a wedding where the bride is still a maiden/virgin). By this time Lucy's face was as scarlet as Erza's hair, and she had given up on trying to be heard in the noise that was surrounding her. "How dare you! How dare you do that to my finance!" Kuro yelled, as he too pulled out his sword. "Die! You damn bastard!" Ichiro yelled as he pulled back his sword, to get a better grip on it, before he and Kuro charged directly at the flame dragon slayer, and chaos erupted.

Natsu who didn't want to get hurt be the swords was retreating, because he knew from his many matches with the Titania that being cut by a sword would hurt like hell. Yes, he could have attacked them, but they were Lucy's friends, and she would probably got really pissed off if he attacked her friends. So the only thing he did was to retreat, which made him look like a coward which fueled Ichiro and Kuro's anger even further.

After a few minutes of Natsu retreating throught the entire guild and crashing into Lucy, Lucy decided that enough was enough. However luck was absolutly not on her side today, as nobody heard Lucy's please for the boys to stop fighting. "Shut up!" Lucy finally yelled tired of talking to the ignoring backs of the boys. This made everybody in the guild hall shut up, after all how many had actually seen Lucy really pissed off before, except for Natsu and Happy. "Lucy's is correct, we shouldn't kill this guy if he is Lucy's boyfriend, that would be extremely mean of us." Ichiro stated to Kuro, before Lucy was able to tell them how big a misunderstanding this really was. "hm, you are right for once, Ichiro. Ok, boy are you Lucy's boyfriend?" Kuro asked, just as Lucy was going to open her mouth to explain the whole situation. However, Mira who wanted to hear Natsu's answer just put a hand over Lucy's mouth and kept her still, after all who would really anger Mira, when she had the ability to change into her satan soul at any moment. So Lucy kept still as the dense salmon-haired idiot continued to drag her into more trouble. Natsu used a few moments to think of an answer, before he answered. He said:

**sorry that I used so much time on getting this chapter up, but I have had a really busy week. And thanks for adding this story in your favorite/alert-lists.**


	3. Chapter 3

"What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I am Lucy's boyfriend!" Natsu exclaimed proudly, making Lucy's face turn into a colour that was even more crimson than Erza's hair and the rest of the guild go silent in shock over Natsu's straightforward confession.

"Is it...true, Lucy?" Kuro asked thunderstruck, while Ichiro were just opening and closing his mouth like a fish on land, while trying to utter some comprehensible words. Since Mira's hand still was covering Lucy's mouth she wasn't able to say anything, not even when the idiot of a fire dragon slayer just stood there as Kuro and Ichiro mumbled something that sounded eerily like an apology before retreating to a corner, while their glances were glued to the floor. Unable to keep still anymore, Lucy ripped Mira's hand away from her mouth, making her able to talk again.

"Natsu! What the hell do you think you are saying!" Lucy yelled at the poor idiot, while her face's colour slowly were diminishing from a striking crimson red colour to a light red colour, that were closer to Natsu's hair colour than Erza's.

"What! Why are you so mad?! I just said that I was your boyfriend. Why are you reacting as if I said something of a big deal?" Hearing this only made Kuro and Ichiro crumble down on themselves even more. The only ones who seemed to enjoy this was Mira and Yuki, which was cause, well Mira had wanted Natsu to say something like that ever since she saw how cute Natsu and Lucy looked together, and Yuki, well she figured out that Lucy wasn't dating that salmon haired guy, when she blushed like an innocent maid at simply hearing him say that he was her boyfriend, yet she also figured out that Lucy probably wanted him to be her boyfriend, by the way her drunken self had gone straight towards the fire dragon slayer, and also by the way her body had unconsciously curled up against his body when she had collapsed on the floor.

"It is a big deal, cause you aren't my boyfriend!"

"What! Of course I am!"

"Natsu, do you even know what a boyfriend is?" Lucy asked tired of arguing with such a thickheaded baka.

"Hai! (Hai = yes)"

"So what does it mean?"

"What, Lucy you don't know what it means?" Natsu gasped while making a shocked face.

"I know what it means" Lucy said slowly, while trying to not let her temper run off.

"Then why do you ask me?"

"Because I want you to tell me what it means"

"Why? You said you already knew what it meant"

"Natsu ... can't you just explain it?" Lucy asked while clenching her hands, and pushing her lips into a tight line.

"Sure, but why? We both know what it means so what's the point of saying it out aloud?"

"... Can't you just say what it means ... Natsu?" Lucy said slowly, while thinking; "I can't call him a damned idiot now, or he will just go mad and deny to say anything"

"Natsu, Lucy is acting weirder than normal, right?" Happy asked, as he flew over them, before landing on Natsu's head.

"Shut up, you damned baka neko!" Lucy finally snapped, only that her anger was directed towards the wrong person/character. (Can you count Happy as a person as he technically is a cat?)

"Lucy is mean!" Happy cried as he flew away from Natsu's head and out of the guild, before Lucy could apologize to him. She felt the guilt surge up in her and looked at the floor, while trying to think of ways to soothe the poor feline.

"Natsu can you just tell me what you believe a boyfriend is, so I can go and apologize to Happy?" Lucy asked tired.

"Hmmmmm, Ok, I will do it on one condition"

"Which is?"

"You got to buy me and Happy two meals each day for a week"

"What! I could pay my rent for two months for that many Jewels!"

"Well, if you don't want me to explain to you, then I will just leave" Natsu said as he smirked and turned around towards the doors. He still couldn't believe why Lucy wanted him to explain something as obvious as that, and it wasn't like he didn't want to tell Lucy what it meant either. It was just that it was such a simple thing, that someone as smart as Lucy should have been able to figure out what it meant, without him explaining it to her. In addition Igneel had told him that it was mean to brag about your strengths to someone who didn't have the same strengths, so that meant that he shouldn't tell Lucy what it meant, right, cause then he would be bragging about knowing a word, she didn't know, right? Lucy on the other hand was thinking completely opposite thoughts, as her was something like this: "Damn I don't get why that baka, is acting so weird today, I mean like, seriously how hard can it be to explain a single word? Well I know that it is Natsu and shouldn't be expecting anything else than this, but really?! And why did have to be Natsu? Why did that baka have to say something stupid like this? Thanks to that baka, I now have to waste my time making him explain something so plain and simple as the word boyfriend. Even a brat knows that he ain't my boyfriend, so why couldn't that baka also realize that? But on the other hand it would have been pretty nice if it had been the truth, after all he is really loyal, trustworthy, nice, and handsome. I mean like look at that body, nicely toned muscles, a six pack and all of that just for protecting his nakama and Me ... What the hell am I thinking?! Natsu is just my friend and nothing more, absolutly nothing more!" Lucy thought as her rambling ended.

"Oi, Lucy why are you blushing?" Natsu's voice asked out of nowhere, making her flinch, before throwing a punch right into his face for scaring the crap out of her.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to scare me like that!"

"But you were the one who wanted to know what the word 'boyfriend' meant, and now you are spacing out, and then blaming me for waking you up again so I can explain it to you. What's up with you?" Natsu asked hurt.

"It is nothing wrong with her Natsu-san, it is simply that she wants you to explain, so Kuro and Onii-san understands that what you are talking about and what they are thinking about are two completely different things. Cause if Lucy explains it, it won't look as truthfully as it would have been if it had come from your mouth, right?" Yuki said with a sly smile in Lucy's direction, making Lucy's face become even more red, but now it was from embarrassment of being figured out so easily.

"Hmmmm, ok. I suppose it is alright then. Ok, here you go Lucy. I will try to explain it simply so please hang on ok?" Natsu told a dumbfounded Lucy in front of the even more dumbfounded guild members. Who the hell had heard Natsu lecture anyone before, about anything at all? Who had heard about Natsu even having any brain cells? And who had heard about Natsu having any cells at all that were thinking romantically? And now he was lecturing Lucy the bookworm about romance?!

"ok, Lucy?" Natsu asked worried that Lucy might already have fallen off, because of her dumbfounded look.

"Umm, yeah, sure, Natsu, go on" Lucy hurriedly assured him, so he wouldn't lose the ball.

"Ok, a boyfriend is a male that you care deeply about, a male that means alot to you and a male that will protect you. You got that, Lucy?"

"umm, yeah" Lucy answered hurriedly while thinking "Who could have thought that the dense Natsu actually could say something as deep and meaningful as that".

"But the thing that defines that I am your boyfriend and not Gray, is the fact that I am 100% boy and I am your best friend. So boyfriend is the same as a male best friend, you got that Lucy?"

"um, sure, Natsu" Lucy said, as her inner self cried over Natsu's density. What would it take for him to actually say something serious, that was true and meaningfull?

"But Natsu, I didn't get why Gray couldn't be Lucy's boyfriend?" Cana, Levy and Mira asked innocently, while they looked at Lucy who had just wanted to run out of the guild.

"Isn't that obvious?" Natsu asked shocked.

"Please don't say that it is cause you care more about me, or because I like you better or anything like that, Natsu, please? But it would have been really nice, if he said something like that about us... No what am I thinking I and Natsu are just friends, just nakama, nothing more!" Lucy thought to herself.

"It is because..."

****

Sorry for the late update, but since I am working on two stories, I think I will try to upload one chapter for each story once a week, probably Fridays, meaning that this story will get an update each second Friday.


	4. Chapter 4

**I am extremely sorry for the extremely long wait. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, its characters or its all belongs to Hiro Mashima. If I had been responsible for writing it, it would probably already been on a straight course towards hell, as I most likely couldn't have kept it as good as it is, in addition to the fact that I can NOT draw. Well anyway, here is the next chapter for you.**

* * *

"It is because, Gray isn't 100% male!" Natsu proclaimed proudly, making everyone all the members of the guild facepalm cause of Natsu's stupidity. Kuro and Ichiro was still just standing there frozen while all of this unfolded in front of them, while Lucy were trying to make them understand that she and Natsu weren't dating, and that it was just a big misunderstanding. On the other hand Gray who was really pissed off at Natsu, threw a punch at Natsu, who ducked so the punch hit Gajeel, who threw Natsu into Elfman, who yelled something about being manly before punching Natsu, who got pissed of and put himself on fire, burning everybody within a ten metre distance - and so the first guild fight of the day had begun. Somehow or another Lucy had made Kuro and Ichiro understand that she and Natsu weren't dating, and that they simply were nakamas. Just as they understood this simple fact, somebody pushed Erza from behind, making her lose her strawberry cake, which she was enjoying by the bar, making her beat up all the guild members who were involved in the brawl, before Mira could calm Erza down with another slice of the legendary strawberry cake.

"Ok, now that everybody are quiet again, I want to ask you something, Lucy" Kuro said nervously.

"ask me what?" Lucy asked curiously, just as Kuro handed her a little scroll of paper. Lucy took it and rolled it out. (This roll is supposed to look something close to the scrolls they use in Naruto). It said:

"On the evening of the 24th of June, I the King of Fiore, invites you to my masquerade ball. Please take a friend with you and attend my party. I will send a cartridge to get you and your companion." (the reason to why it filled the entire roll is ,because there were a lot of decorations and such on it).

"So will you come with me to the dance, my dear Lucy?" Kuro asked sweetly.

"But the 24th of June is today, and I don't even have a costume," Lucy said.

"That is already fixed, hime" Virgo said as she popped up from nowhere / the spirit world, and handed Lucy a huge clothes bag in life size, and small box.

"What is this?"

"It is your dress and an accessory box, hime" Virgo said, as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Huh," Lucy said brilliantly, as she looked at the spot where Virgo disappeared. Just a few seconds later, another yellow/gold flash occurred and Loke walked out of the gold smoke.

"It is your dress for the masquerade ball later. It is the same dress you used on the twenty years anniversary of your uncle's new 'home'. It should fit you" Loke finished as he fixed his glasses and threw Lucy a flashing smile, making Lucy feel really embarrassed, before he disappeared to the spirit world.

"So you guys came all the way over to Magnolia to ask, if I wanted to come to the ball with Kuro?" Lucy asked, feeling lighthearted.

"Of course, why shouldn't I came all the way over here to ask you to the ball?" Kuro asked and gave her a genuine grin.

"After all there is no one in the entire world who I would rather ask to come to the ball with, than you." Kuro said truthfully.

"Does that mean that you are gonna wear the same costume as you wore, back then Kuro? I mean since I am wearing the same as back then."

"Of course, what else could match us as well as that?"

"Then I will come over to this ball of yours," Lucy answered happily, making Mira squeal with delight as she saw another opportunity to match Lucy with either Kuro, or to make Natsu jealous, so he could begin to date Lucy.

"Then we got to go, and make you presentable, Lucy! Kuro and Ichiro! You two meet us here at about five o'clock."Yuki said, as she pulled Lucy through the doors, leaving the others behind. (When Yuki pulls Lucy through the guild doors it was about two o'clock).

Three hours later the guild doors opened to reveal two stunning beauties, one was blonde while the other one was a brunette. The blonde girl was clothed in a yellow/orange/goldish long dress with straps. The dress was stuck to her curves from her waist and up, while the lower part was really wide like an old time ball dress. The blonde's hair was curled into beautifully curled golden locks that framed her face, and emphasized her deep brown eyes, so that you could easily drown into them. In addition she wore a golden necklace and bracelet with the Fairy Tail mark, marked in the gold. The brunette wore a crimson dress with short arms, while the rest of the dress was really similar to a traditional ball dress. The brunette had had naturally curly and silky hair, so she had not bothered to do anything with it.

Ichiro wore a simple blue suit which stood in contrast to Yuki's dress, yet emphasizing her eyes. Kuro's suit on the other hand looked a bit more flashy, as it was black with small golden stars sewn into the texture, which matched Lucy's hair. In addition his tie was a midnight blue/black color, with the little pin that hold the tie together with the suit showed a full moon. Both of the men's pants were respectively regular dark blue / black pants.

"Damn, Lucy, my nickname for you doesn't suit you anymore, as you just surpassed the definition of being gorgeous with your new dress." a shocked Ichiro said as he eyed Lucy and Yuki.

"You look beautiful, too, Yuki " Ichiro said quickly.

"Don't sweat it, nii-san, and don't bother telling me any compliments today Kuro, as for the next twenty four hours, all of your compliments should solely be focused on Lucy" Yuki said, as she threw Lucy a smile, before Ichiro guided Yuki out the door and into one of the waiting cartridges.

"For once I have to agree with Ichiro, there are no words in the entire dictionary that can describe your beauty, my dear Lucy." a dazzled Kuro told Lucy, who blushed due to all of the compliments she received.

"Yeah, Lucy you look stunning today, almost as if you were a sun, or a huge fireball" Natsu told her, as he licked his lips, suddenly hungry as the word - fireball- reminded him that he hadn't eaten since Lucy and her friend left the guild in order to fix themselves up.

"...Thanks I suppose" Lucy said.

"Well, shall we go my lady?"Kuro asked sweetly as he offered his arm.

"Don't forget your masks, and enjoy your night", Capricorn said as he offered one black mask to Kuro and one golden mask to Lucy, before he kissed Lucy's hand and disappeared in a yellow cloud.

"Have a sweet night together!" Cana slurred to Lucy, while the other remaining guild member made agreeing sounds, making Lucy blush even more, as she took Kuro's arm, and he guided them out of the door and into their waiting cartridge.

"Damn that dress looked so beautiful!" Levy told the others at the table she was sitting at. The others were basically Cana, Lisanna, Natsu, Erza, Grey and Mira, who had unusually enough taken a break from her waitress job in order to try to match up Lucy and Natsu. However if somebody wanted a drink, she would leave the table to fetch it, but unusually enough nobody asked for a drink. Who would be crazy enough to tell Mira to get them a drink, when she obviously was busy plotting Lucy and Natsu's future wedding.

"We know Levy, all of us were drooling over it, too!" Lisanna told Levy.

"Sure it was nice, but it was still just a dress. What's the big deal?"Grey asked the others.

"Just a dress! Didn't you look at it?! It is a dress that could easily take a girl to a royal throne, or even to the throne of Kami-sama (Kami-sama = God) himself." Levy told shocked to a bored Grey.

"Yeah, Grey that was obvious! The real question is why she used such a dress?" Natsu lectured Grey.

"Why she used SUCH a dress?!" Mira asked, shocked that Natsu had actually looked closely at that beautiful dress. Then perhaps he had understood that Lucy had looked stunningly in it.

"Yeah, sure it was nice and all that, but why did her dress look like a sun, while his dress looked like the night sky?"

"Oh" Mira said disappointed that that was what Natsu had been talking about.

"It is probably because it was a masquerade ball, and they decided to do a word play/pun on their names." Lisanna explained.

"Their names?"Natsu asked curiously.

"Yeah, their names. Lucy means light, that is probably why her dress is donned to look like a blazing sun. Kuro on the other hand means black, so he has donned his suit like a midnight sky. That way their names will show off their clothes in a way more interesting way, and make them clear winners, in addition to the fact that it looks sooo good on them!" Levy said, as she began squealing at the end.

Lucy and Kuro on the other hand had already reached their destination, a beautiful palace in Crocus. However they weren't the only ones, there were at least a hundred other cartridges there, but then again this was an invitation to a royal masquerade ball, so of course there would be a lot of guests. (The palace looks exactly like it does in the anime/manga from the outside. I will just redesign the interior and inside to work with my plot)

Kuro helped Lucy out of the cartridge, before he gave her her yellow mask, and he put on his own black mask. These masks were not regular masks, but magical masks from the spirit world. So when they put up these masks it was completely impossible to distinguish who they were. Then he guided her to the front doors of the palace, which were stocked with guards and guests. Those doors were huge, it was at least a metre across one of the doors, and this was one of those double doors made of beautifully carved timber. It reminded Lucy of the Fairy Tail guild doors, just in a bigger size. Kuro guided her through the doors and into an elegant hallway, after showing the guards their invitation. The hallway led into a beautiful and gorgeous ballroom, with huge chandeliers hanging from the roof. The room was very light and warm, and decorated with red and purple roses, in addition to small white and blue lilies. On the foremost part of the room there was a huge stage like setting where an orchestra were playing a very soft and beautiful song, that the other guests were dancing to.

"Well since we are at a ball, would you like to dance with me?" Kuro asked sweetly, yet kinda unsure of himself.

"Sure, Kuro" Lucy said, as she hold up her hand for him to take, so they could began the slow dance to mesmerizing and slow music. They slowly danced for about a quarter or so, while Kuro guided their dance towards the corner by the left side of the stage.

"Hey, Kuro I know you didn't come all the way over to Magnolia simply to bring me to this ball."

"What makes you say that, my honey?" Kuro asked sweetly.

"Because now that you are Senshi Hakushaku (Hakushaku=Earl in Japanese), you won't have as much spare time as you had before. That means that you certainly won't have enough time to run around searching for, and then playing around with a girl" Lucy grinned as she ended her explanation.

"I should have known that you are way too clever to be fooled by my little excuse." Kuro said with a small smile playing with his lips.

"You should have. So can you please explain it to me?"

"Ok, I will. The truth is that his majesty asked to meet with you and gave me the mission of getting you here." Kuro said as he pushed the door in the corner up with his left foot, before dancing her into the room. Where he let go of her in order to bow deeply to the person standing behind her. Lucy slowly turned around to look onto a man in his early fifties wearing the blue uniform of the royal family, with a little white beard, and with the sigil of the ruling king.

"You look gorgeous, Lucy, just like Lalyla - nee - san, me dear niece", the King told Lucy lovingly.

* * *

**What's up with the flowers today?! I was just writing down some completely random flower and color combinations to the decorations in addition to the regular ones, right? Then i thought, hmm, it would be kinda bad if those flowers didn't actually exist, cause then I would have to explain it and so I well decided to search for purple roses and blue lilies on google images. And to my great astonishment there is actually such flowers. Can you believe it? Naturally blue and purple flowers? Well I can't and still think it is kinda surprising to know that my complete random combinations actually existed. Who would have known.**

**I am really grateful to the fact that you guys are reading my story and adding it to your favorite/alert lists, but i would have been even more grateful if you could review my story too. Those few reviews that I got are so motivating. They are the things that keeps me motivated enough to write the next chapter. So please, write something in the review area, it will definitely make my days a lot brighter. It doesn't matter if it just is a word or a page, everything motivates. even a little smiley. So please review, cause it means a lot to me ^_^**

* * *

**Thanks to Celestial-Mage231, CelestialTitania, JustGoCrazy, SakuraIchigoDark, SecretOtaku27, Yashieforever, animebunny23, chimmy66, final-zangetsu, phoenixflamemarauder, year-of-the-panda and zeck232 for following this fanfic.**

**Thanks to CelestialTitania, EllieBloodStain, GoldenRoseTanya, animebunny23, chrissyroo1, final-zangetsu, sticy17 and year-of-the-panda for adding this fanfic to your favorite-list.**


	5. Chapter 5

"You look gorgeous, Lucy, just like Layla - nee - san, my dear niece", the King told Lucy lovingly. Lucy blushed and looked away.

"I will leave my partner with you for the rest of the night as you requested, Your Majesty" Kuro said as he bowed deeply to the King, before he gave Lucy a reassuring nod and walked out of the room.

"So what did you want with me, Your Majesty?" Lucy asked unsure.

"Please don't call me Your Majesty, unless we are in a public place. It makes me feel less close to you, even though I am your uncle."

"Sorry, uncle" Lucy said with a small smile.

"It is alright, Lucy. You see, the thing I wanted to talk with you about is your father's company, the Heartifilia Konzern."

"What about it?" Lucy asked concerned.

"Well you know that he worked really hard to bring it to the position it was in when you were a kid, in other words about ten years ago, right. well, after all you would know about it really well, wouldn't you as you ran away from home about eight years ago, since he cared way more about his konzern than you, his own flesh and blood."

"Yeah, I know about that really well. But what of it?"

"Well, when your guild were gone for the last seven years, he continued to search for you without ever giving up the hope that one day you would return. So he did a great job on his konzern and expanded it a lot, so that in his last day, it was probably the most earning company in the entire Fiore. He did all of that for your sake, so that once you returned from your disappearance, you wouldn't have to tire yourself so much in order to pay your rent and other things. He brought his konzern to that state for your sake, and left it all for you to inherit when you turned eighteen, which you will in about half a year."

"Look, I am really grateful for my father's concern about my economy, but I am NOT going to quit being a member of Fairy Tail, just because my father left the Heartifilia Konzern for me."

"I know."

"Then why were you telling it to me then?" Lucy asked confused.

"I am just halfway through my explanation. You would understand it better if you let me finish my explanation." Lucy's uncle told her with a smile, as he ruffled her hair, making Lucy pout.

"Yes, your father left the Heartifilia Konzern for you, but both he and I realized that you were probably never gonna quit being a member of that guild, and neither do we want you to do it. They are your family now, they have proven to care deeply for you, and to support you no matter what. There is no way that I will take you away from such a great family. However, you are Layla-nee-san's daughter, and if your mother hadn't run away from the palace, like you, when she was a teenager she would have been the queen today. Do you understand what that means, Lucy? It means that you are the rightful heir to the throne. You are supposed to be Queen of Fiore." her uncle told her seriously.

"Wait a moment now. You are the King, and Yuki and Ichiro are your kids. Ichiro is supposed to inherit the throne after you, not me." Lucy told the king, as she had absolutely no intention whatsoever to become part of the royalty.

"Yes, I know. But when your mother was pregnant with you, our father made her promise that you would have the chance to become the Queen, when you were old enough, so that my kids would alway be the second priority compared to you. And you know that your mother would never lie, especially as she was a celestial mage, and celestial mages never lie do they, Lucy?"

"No, they don't lie. But I don't want to be a Queen."

"That is what your mother thought you would say too. That is why she put up a few conditions."

"What kind of conditions did she put up?" Lucy asked.

"They are written here on this contract", her uncle told her, as he handed her a scroll, which had been lying on a nearby table. Lucy unrolled the scroll and began to read. The scroll was a letter from her mother to her, and it said:

Dear Lucy!

I do not know when you will read this letter, but I suppose that at the time when you are reading this I will be long gone. Most likely my brother would have explained the basics for you, but as he sucks at explaining stuff, I will try to clear up any mess he would most likely have made, and explain stuff he probably forgot about. The thing is that my and Akihiko's (my brother's name) dad was the king, and ruler of the entire Fiore. But I never wanted to rule Fiore, my dream was to become a celestial mage that could help out regular people, on a face to face basis, and not by just sending some money to some names in some unknown place. So I told my dad and brother that, but of course that couldn't be done. After all, the king couldn't just send of his only daughter to become a mage in some regular guild in some random place, and live like a regular human. My father thought that idea was hideous, and told me to forget all about that dream. However, I was a woman who had had that dream since I first heard of celestial mages. So I ran away from the palace in the middle of the night. ("Just like me", Lucy thought to herself and chuckled a little, as she read this.) And well, I joined the guild called "Love and Luck", where I met your dad. Well you know the rest of the tale. However, there are a couple of things that you don't know, which is because it has been kept as a secret, with purpose. You were not supposed to know of this, before this moment, so please do not blame your uncle or anybody else for not letting you know about this. What you are now gonna learn is the real and unmanipulated truth. When I am writing this letter, you have just turned seven years old, and I know that I won't last for much longer. You have probably been told that I died due to an illness, well that is just a small part of the truth. The truth is a lot more complicated than that, which is because some parts of your memories have been altered, while others have been removed completely, and substituted with some other fake memories. I know that it is extremely horrible, but it was all done in very good intentions. The reason is -

A few tears were leaking from Lucy's eyes, and dripped down on her right hand which was holding the letter. The salt water hit landed right on top of guild mark, before sliding down towards her wrist, toppling over the edge of her arm and down on the floor. Lucy was staring down at the floor, as more and more tears made their way down to the floor. Suddenly two old, yet firm hands came and gently pulled her face up, while using the thumbs on each hand to wipe away the tears from her face.

"Your face look a lot more beautiful without the tears accompanying your eyes."Her uncle told her gently, while looking deep into her eyes.

"I am not gonna say that I understand why you are crying, cause I do not do it. But I will always stand here in order to cheer you up, so please let me know, so I can help you, ok? As I said I do not understand why you are crying, yet I know for a certain that whatever you mother did, she did it because she loved you above everything else. Whatever she did, she did it for your sake." her uncle told Lucy.

"You are right, uncle. My mother wouldn't have messed up my memories just to hide something, if it hadn't been necessary." Lucy told him truthfully, before wiping away the remains of her tears, and turning her attention back to the letter.

"The reason is that I didn't die of an illness, but I was murdered." Lucy read this sentence five time over and over, yet she couldn't comprehend the fact that her mother had been murdered. How could her mother who had been nice toward every single person she had ever encountered, make an enemy that would hate her to such an extent that he would be willing to murder her.

"This got to be a joke", Lucy whispered to herself as she tried to comprehend this new information about her mother.

"If this is seriously the truth then whoever the murder is, is gonna pay. I will make sure he dies a long and painful death, in order to feel at least a tenth of the pain I have felt because of him" Lucy angrily thought to herself. If her mother hadn't died, then her childhood would have been such a dark chapter as it was today. Her father would actually have cared about her. This was all the murder's fault, so he is gonna pay. Hopefully her mother would explain more, if Lucy continued to read the letter, so once again Lucy turned her attention back to it.

"I do not have so much strength left, so I will simply cut to the most important things. I know you probably are not believing the fact that I could have managed to get myself an enemy, nonetheless gotten myself murdered. However it is the truth. BUT I do NOT want you to revenge me, or to hurt the ones who are to blame for my death, nor anyone close to them. I absolutely do not want you to do anything like that, as I believe that this has all been a huge misunderstanding. I called you Lucy, which means light, cause I wanted you to be the the hope that shines through everything without ever getting tainted by the darkness. A person who seeks revenge will only obtain sadness, while losing everything that the person held dear. I do not want that to happen to you, and as I believe that this is just a misunderstanding, I do Not want you to seek any of those people with any kind of evil intent. As I do not have much time left, I won't be able to tell you exactly what happened, but Aquarius, Capricorn and Cancer all know about it, so if you want to know, just tell them to let you know about it. Secondly, back to the conditions. As you know are aware, you are royal, and a heir to the Heartfilia Konzern. Your uncle is a guy who always sticks to the law, which means that he will want you to take the throne, as you have the strongest claim to it, and as it is rightfully yours. I do not want to influence your choice about whether or not you are gonna claim the throne for yourself, but from your eighteenth birthday and for the following year I want you to claim the throne. Use this year to test out whether or not you want to claim the throne permanently. If you don't want to, then give the throne to your uncle when you turn nineteen, and he will rule Fiore as he did up until this point. However, if you do want to continue ruling Fiore, there won't be anyone nor anything that can stop you from doing so. Just an advice, ruling a country is not much different from controlling a company. It should be really easy for you as Jude, would have given you lessons and prepared you to take over the Heartifilia Konzern. Anyway, good luck. I wish you a very happy life.

From

Your mother Layla, who loves you with all her heart."

Lucy stared down at the letter. This was the only thing with her mother's feelings and words printed on them that Lucy had. She had a few jewels and other accessories that she inherited from her mother, but nothing quite like this. Lucy's fingers unconsciously curled themselves tighter around the scroll.

"You can have that scroll, if you want", her uncle told her after looking at Lucy's clenched fingers. Lucy looked shocked at him, before following his glance towards her fingers and smiled sheepishly at him.

"You sure, uncle? This would mean alot to you, too?" Lucy asked, yet the King only took the scroll along with her hands and placed the above her heart.

"This is way more important for you", he said, before guiding her to the dinner table, where everything had been prepared for them.

The table was prepared for two people, with a lot of different foods. The plates contained a whole roasted chicken bathed in a sweet red sauce, a boiled fish laid on a plate decorated with sliced lemons and lettuce. In addition there were a grand plate with a roasted piglet drowned in red chili sauce, then with a layer of sweet red sauce. The piglet had a roasted red apple in its mouth, and the whole thing was decorated with tons of different vegetables and mushrooms. The king and Lucy dined on that amazing food, while talking about their lives.

When they were done eating a couple of servants came and cleaned of the table, before presenting the desert for them, a huge bowl of different kind of ice cream, with stripes of warm chocolate and melting caramel/toffee, and topped with a dark red cherry, one for each of them.

"Do they seriously believe that I am gonna finish this whole thing after that huge dinner?" Lucy asked, not believing what she was looking at.

"I suppose they do. You better start eating, if you plan to finish before leaving", the King told her with a small smile playing with his lips.

"You are right, I suppose", Lucy said with a sigh, before beginning to eat it. After all ice cream was her favorite dessert, and here she was offered it in such a great portion with all of her favorite toppings, the warm chocolate, the melting toffee/caramel and her favorite berry.

"So, Lucy back to what I was talking about before giving you that letter. Your father left the greatest company in the entire of Fiore for you. However his death was unexpected, and the company is just basically running on its own. It has no one to lead it nor supervise it. The workers deserve to at least know about what's gonna happen to them. Even if you don't want to take over the company, you should at least go and tell the workers what you intend to do with their working place. The Heartifilia Konzern is their only working place, they are dependent on it in order to pay for the expenses of life. You have now lived on the money you earn from your missions, what would happen if you suddenly were kicked out of the guild? You wouldn't be able to earn a single Jewel, and that is their exact case. If you want to sell it or disable the Konzern, you can do it, but just go and tell it to them at least a year before, so they can begin to search for a new job." The King told Lucy sternly.

"Okay, uncle, I will do as you say", Lucy told her uncle, before bowing to him, excusing herself and walking out of the King's quarters, and into the ballroom again.

Lucy and Kuro continued to dance and socialize with the different people in the ballroom until midnight when they excused themselves and ordered a carriage to take them back to Magnolia.

"Hey Kuro, do you know where Yuki and Ichiro are?" Lucy asked Kuro before giving a yawn.

"They are probably heading back right now, or they are gonna stay over at the palace before coming back tomorrow, after all it is their home, so it isn't exactly as if they had to hurry."

They were quiet for another few minutes, before Lucy's head slowly dropped down to Kuro's shoulder. He turned his head to check what was wrong, only find out that Lucy had fallen asleep, so he simply moved her head over to his lap so her neck wouldn't hurt so much when she woke up again. They continued their drive like that all the way back to Magnolia, where Kuro told the driver to stop in front of the guild, as he had no idea where Lucy's apartment was. He gathered her up in his arms, with her head resting against his chest before paying the driver, and walked into the guild again, only to find it half empty. Well, it probably shouldn't have surprised him as it was in the middle of the night. The only ones who were left were Natsu, Mirajane, Erza, Levy and Gray.

"You back?" Gray asked sleepily as he brushed his eyes with his fists, in order to wake up a bit more.

"Yeah, I just told the driver to drop us of here, as I have no idea of where Lucy's apartment is." Kuro answered as he gently put Lucy down on one of the benches, and used his own cloak as a pillow for her head to rest upon.

"Oh, I and Happy will take her back home. Don't worry about it, Kuro" Natsu said as he climbed of the bench and walked over towards Lucy.

"Don't worry Kuro, Lucy will be safe with Natsu, after all he has saved her life countless of times already. He won't let anything happen to her" Mira assured Kuro, as she was plotting how to make Natsu realize his feelings for Lucy.

"Um, ok, Then I will see you guys another time." Kuro said as he walked out of the guild and out in the night. Natsu had just reached Lucy, and slowly lifted her up, bridal style, in order to not wake her up. He left Kuro's cloak behind at the bench and told Levy to make sure that Kuro got it back, before carrying Lucy out of the guild. Once he was outside the guild, he heated up his skin, so that Lucy wouldn't be freezing in the chilly Magnolian night air. He carried her all the way over to her apartment, before jumping in through her window, putting her down on her bed and pulling the comforter over her. Just as he was gonna leave the room through the window, something held him back. Lucy's hand had just grabbed at his west/shirt and held him back from leaving. Natsu was slowly turning around to ask what was going on, when he saw that Lucy still was unconscious, and that she had grabbed hold of him in her sleep. Did that mean that she wanted him to stay, or that she was dreaming about him? That couldn't be true, after all Lucy was probably looking for a guy who liked to read to share her life with, not a childish dragon slayer. Just as he was going to leave he heard her whisper his name softly, which made him froze in place. Natsu slowly turned around and fixed his eyes on her face. Suddenly she began to shiver, so Natsu just heated up his own body and let the warmth from himself, wash down over Lucy's arm that still had a hold of his shirt and down over her blanket. But that made the decision for Natsu, after all he couldn't just let her freeze in her own home, so he would just have to stay over in her apartment until she woke up.

* * *

I am sorry for the extremely long wait, but as I am going to second year of high school now and have a completely filled schedule, I don't think I will be able to update regularly. But I will update this as fast as possible, so just keep rewieving and that will motivate me to update faster.


End file.
